Miami basketball visits Florida St in third ACC Game of 2019: Game Info

The Miami basketball team plays the back end of a two-game road trip on Wednesday night at Florida State. The Hurricanes have dropped their first two ACC games of 2019 after losing double-digit leads.

The Miami basketball team entered ACC play 8-4. As they had all season Miami dropped a close game, 87-82 to North Carolina State in the opener on Thursday. The Hurricanes have wilted in the second half of many games this season due to a seven-man rotation. Miami lost the opener at home after leading by as many as 10 points.

The Hurricanes raced out to a 30-15 lead at Louisville on Sunday. The Cardinals eventually were able to trim the deficit to 41-40 at halftime. A 16-2 Louisville run gave the Cardinals a 60-47 lead in the second half and they never looked back. The Louisville lead was in double digits for the last ten minutes of the game.

Florida State enters the game 12-2 overall and 0-1 in the ACC. They began ACC play with a 65-52 loss at Virginia. The Seminoles needed a 16-0 run to close the game out just to reach the final margin. Florida State’s other loss was 66-60 to Villanova in the Finals of the Advocare Classic in Orlando.

The Seminoles have two victories this season over the nation’s number 19 team. The defeated LSU and Purdue five days apart in November when the teams were ranked 19th nationally. The game against the Boilermakers came in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge.

Playing in Tallahassee has not historically been kind to the Miami basketball team. The Hurricanes are 8-30 there all-time and their matchup with the Seminoles on Wednesday night will be a difficult one. Including Phil Cofer who played his first game this season in late December,10 Seminoles average at least 10 minutes per game.

Florida State is deep, big and athletic. Sixteen of the 18 players on the Seminoles roster are 6’4 or taller. Eight players including Savoy average between 7.0 and 12.1 points per game. Miami has great balance offensively too, but with a seven-man rotation, it’s going to be very difficult to match the Seminoles depth.

A loss by the Miami basketball team will drop them exclusively into last place in the ACC. Notre Dame is the only other ACC team to start conference play 0-2. The Irish are off until Saturday. The Hurricanes and Seminoles play at the Watsco Center on February 6.

Sophomore guard Chris Lykes and Senior Center Ebuka Izundu have been Miami’s best players this season. Iznudu is averaging 11.7 points per game and leads the team with 9.4 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game. Lykes is Miami’s leading scorer at 17.5 PPG and assist leader at 3.6 APG.

Graduate transfer Zach Johnson and Junior Guard Dejan Vasiljevic are also having outstanding seasons. Johnson is second on the team in scoring at 14.3 PPG. Vasiljevic is averaging 12.5 PPG and is fifth in the ACC in three-point shooting.

Miami Hurricanes

"GAME 15 • JAN. 9, 2019 • 9 P.M. • TALLAHASSEE, FLA.Location: Tallahassee, Fla./Donald L. Tucker Center (11,500)MIAMI HURRICANES (8-6, 0-2 ACC)Head Coach: Jim Larrañaga (Providence, ‘71)Record at UM: 169-85 (8th season), Career Record: 639-419 (35th season)13/13 FLORIDA STATE SEMINOLES (12-2, 0-1 ACC)Head Coach: Leonard Hamilton (Tennessee-Martin, ‘71)Record at FSU: 317-210 (17th season), Career Record: 517-420 (31st season)Information Courtesy of HurricaneSports.Com"

If Miami is going to have a chance to upset Florida State it’s going to have to shoot lights out on three-pointers. The Hurricanes are a respectable 96th in the country in three-point field goal percentage at 36.3 percent.

Vasiljevic is Miami’s best three-point shooters making 44.1 percent of his attempts. Florida State is average defending the three. They allow opponents to shoot 32.9 percent, 143rd nationally. The rest of the Seminoles defensive stats are exceptional. They are in the top 110 in the nation in most defensive stats.

"Broadcast Information:Television: RSN; Online: WatchESPNPlay-by-Play: Jason Knapp, Color: Brian OliverRadio: WQAM 560-AM (PxP: Joe Zagacki)Satellite Radio: Sirius 135, XM 193, XM Internet 955Series vs. FSU: Miami trails, 46-35Road: 8-30 | Home: 27-14 | Neutral: 0-2"

After the first of two rivalry showdowns with Florida State on the hardwood this season Miami plays four of their next five games at home. That begins on Saturday when Miami hosts Wake Forest. The Hurricanes then have a week off before 12th ranked North Carolina visits Coral Gables.

After a trip to Syracuse, the Miami basketball team returns home to host Florida State in the second meeting this season and eighth-ranked Virginia Tech. The Tar Heels, Hokies and Demon Deacons are Miami’s other home-and-home in basketball this season.